


the deepest night

by boyfrendery



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horror, Blood and Injury, Character Death, Horror, M/M, Murder, mild description of cuts and blood in the neck but not too detailed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 15:57:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19948921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boyfrendery/pseuds/boyfrendery
Summary: on the day donghyuck dies, mark comes home alone. donghyuck returns three days later.





	the deepest night

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND06B49bC6E).

Mark is sitting on his sofa, waist loosely wrapped by one of Donghyuck’s arms. He grips a bottle of beer in one hand, the other holding a pillow tight to his chest. He breathes out slowly, quieting the flame burning in his throat.

The younger boy is smiling, beaming at the friends huddled with them in the living room. “It’s a miracle you’re alive,” Jaemin remarks, hand running over Donghyuck’s knee. Donghyuck smiles especially wide to Jaemin, squeezing the boy’s hand. There’s music running through the background, voices filling up every inch of the household, but Mark can’t hear any of it.

Donghyuck shouldn’t be alive. He isn’t alive.

He killed Donghyuck three days ago.

“Have you ever climbed up that mountain? I’ve heard it can be dangerous.” Donghyuck and Mark were exiting the subway station to head home. In the distance is the largest mountain in the country, its peaks visible from kilometres away. The sun had begun to set, painting the horizon in hues of gold. Heat from the afternoon sunshine brought trickles of sweat down Donghyuck’s temples, light refracting in the beads of moisture. Mark loved how Donghyuck glistened at golden hour.

“No, I haven’t. Do you want to go this weekend?” He laced his fingers with Donghyuck’s, instinctively tracing circles with his thumb.

Donghyuck’s face lit up, an infectious fire setting ablaze from his toes through his chest and fingertips, brightness shining behind his eyes. He nodded excitedly to Mark’s offer and brought their interlocked hands to his mouth, placing a soft kiss on the back of his hand. Mark swears he could look at Donghyuck all day.

None of their friends were invited on the hike - they spent so much time as a group that Mark and Donghyuck decided it would be best to venture on their own. That Saturday morning, Mark packed two backpacks full of hiking gear: several frozen water bottles each, to prevent dehydration;protein bars, to fuel their hike and satisfy any hunger; charged battery packs, if their phones drained from taking too many pictures. Donghyuck barely slept the night before and insisted on keeping Mark awake with him, busying them both until the sun’s pink glow flowed past their curtains. They rose with nature and left home earlier than planned, arriving at the park just shy of 7am.

In hindsight, Mark saw the ways he could have changed that day. He saw how tired but excited Donghyuck was throughout the ride to the park, stomach flipping at the thrill of adventure. He watched the younger boy trek a bit too far ahead, a bit eager to reach the peak, steps long and hasty. He should have told him to stop, to slow down, wait a second longer for Mark to meet his pace. He should have kept Donghyuck’s hand in his and never let go.

It all happened too fast for him to remember. The trip, Donghyuck’s footing failing him as he slips off the rocks. The tree branch, its thorns pierced through thin skin, coated in lush shades of scarlet dripping off its spiked ends. Donghyuck’s muffled coughs, tears falling as he chokes out “Hyung!” over and over through surges of blood out of his neck. The realization that the bleeding won’t stop, there’s too much lost, he’s going to die in pain.

Mark’s palms clasped over Donghyuck’s mouth and nose, closed airways stopping his whimpers. Donghyuck’s eyes turning wide then hollow, soul emptying out in front of him. Mark’s fingers shaking, closing his lover’s eyelids for the last time.

The world falling dark as the light of his life falls flat and lifeless in front of him. He’ll never forget that.

Mark doesn’t tell anyone the truth. It’s sudden, Donghyuck’s death - he fell _off_ the mountain, deep into the pits of the woods below the trail during a difficult part of the hike. Mark tells his friends this, how he couldn’t go down to save Donghyuck, his eyes heavy from the nonstop crying as he explains the tragedy. They comfort Mark at this time, tell him to be grateful to be alive - to be grateful for having Donghyuck in his life, no matter how short the time may have been. They hold onto each other. They grieve.

They don’t know of the clearing off the hiking path, its shrouded bushes dense and thick against Mark’s legs. How heavy Donghyuck’s limp body was, Mark’s back coated in sweat as he carried his best friend into the clearing, hid him deep in the woods to rest peacefully, to sleep eternally in the quiet of the mountain. How the forest rustled its hushed song while Mark looked down at his love, weeping until his eyes ran dry. How Mark chose between watching Donghyuck bleed to death or ending the suffering himself.

Mark does not sleep that night. He lays awake on the sofa in their apartment, all lights turned off, looking at the ceiling until he feels it looking back at him. He can’t sleep in their bed anymore. It feels too empty.

On Tuesday evening, when all their friends have come together for weekly pizza night, Donghyuck returns. His entrance is triumphant, a sailor come home from his voyage. His cheeks are scratched up, hair a mess, clothes dirtied with stains and soil.

Mark studies his face, examines the features he’s learned so well, then gazes to his neck, skin smooth and unscathed. Donghyuck’s eyes don’t drip honey, his skin no longer a glowing reflection of the light within himself. His hug drains all warmth from Mark’s body. He can’t bear to look at him anymore.

This isn’t Donghyuck.

Everyone decides to stay over that night, an impromptu celebratory sleepover. Despite Renjun’s insistence to bring Donghyuck to the hospital, the younger boy resists, assuring Renjun that he stopped by a clinic on his way home. He speaks little of his journey out of the park (“The mountain woods are a terrifying place.”) - all that matters is that he’s home, he’s safe, he’s alive. Mark swears Donghyuck’s voice is raspier than before, a shifted tone.

Donghyuck slips out the front door when everyone is sound asleep. The five boys rest in their living room, furniture pushed aside to make room on the floor, snoring into pillows and arms. Mark is at the far end, blanket pulled over his chest, eyes closed but ears open. When he hears the lock of the front door close, he opens his eyes to pitch black and daydreams of deep red. He doesn’t sleep that night either.

The following nights continue like this: Donghyuck, disappearing into the night only to come home in the morning; Mark, pretending to be asleep on the sofa, laying awake in the darkness. Donghyuck arrives home each morning just shy of the sunrise. Mark swears he can smell the faint scent of blood, its coppery musk all too familiar.

Exactly one week after his return, Donghyuck does not leave that night.

He rests in his bed, _their_ bed, eyes shut with fingers folded over his chest. Mark does his best to stay awake, keep his mind alert to the sudden change in routine. He breathes in the light of the moon, waning through the blinds of their living room window.

Mark blinks open to the sight of Donghyuck standing over him, gaze hovering over Mark’s neck. He gets up, sits straight with his back against the sofa. Donghyuck’s hair shines in the glow of the moon, his eyes ominous, dark.

“Are you Donghyuck?” Mark sputters out the question, already knowing the answer deep within himself. Donghyuck smirks slightly, white teeth glistening.

“No.” He lifts up his hand, metal peaking between his fingers. “You killed him.”

The mountain woods are a terrifying place. Donghyuck walks through it in silence, Mark’s body slung over his shoulders. He climbs carefully up the hiking trail, listening for the hushed song of the rustling forest. He hears nothing. 

Past the hiking trail is a clearing, its shrouded bushes dense and thick against Donghyuck’s legs. He lifts Mark off his shoulders and places him on the woods floor, here to rest peacefully in the quiet of the mountain night.

He looks down at the two bodies, both wordless, the moonshine reflecting off their skin, and smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> my first attempt at horror - much darker than i’m used to writing, so thank you for getting this far! the story/concept is loosely based on [his face all red](https://emcarroll.com/comics/faceallred/01.html), a **fantastic** comic written by one of my favourite authorsL read it, then read it again and again.
> 
> please leave any questions/theories in the comments! i'd love to hear what you think of the story and the ending.
> 
>   
>    
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/boyfrendery) | [cc](https://curiouscat.me/boyfrendery)


End file.
